Thursday, June 05, 2014

Tullman one of Music Dealers’ 4 new tech executives

Tullman one of Music Dealers’ 4 new tech executives

By Ruth L RatnyJun 04, 2014

Howard Tullman

Howard Tullman, CEO of 1871, the Chicago-based entrepreneurial hub for digital startups, is one of Music Dealers’ four new senior appointments in forwarding its goal of “being positioned as the dominant player in the music licensing industry globally,” says Eric Sheinkop, CEO/co-founder ofMusic Dealers.

“We have brought together a fresh technology perspective beyond the music business to focus on launching an innovative online checkout platform and position it as the unrivalled iTunes of business-to-business,” Sheinkop states.

Tullman and Music Dealers are a perfect fit, since Tullman pioneered online music with Tunes.com, one of the top three online music sites in the early 1990s.

“I met Eric a number of years ago and have followed the progress of the company ever since and the massive disruptive changes that are roiling the entire music industry,” Tullman says.

“Last year I decided to become more involved in Music Dealers as an investor and to accept Eric’s invitation to an active role in the business as executive chairman.”

Joining Tullman in Music Dealers’ expansion are technology leader Kayne Grauin the new position of president. Grau joins from Apartments.com, where he’d been VP/chief technology officer, and played an intricate role in Apartments.com’s recent sale to the Costar group in April. Previously, he’d held technology strategy positions with Cars.com, Allstate ad DirectTV.

In two new positions are Clay Johnson, VP/technology for digital marketing Cars.com, and David Szostak, director of marketing and business development, consultant in digital marketing and project management.

Grau, Johnson and Szostak join Music Dealers’ staff of 30 in their West Loop offices at 328 N. Jefferson.

Music Dealers’ new online checkout was designed to simplify and speed up the process of discovering and purchasing authentic music forTV, advertising and music campaigns – anytime and anywhere in the world.

“Online checkout will provide Music Dealers’client base unprecedented 24/7 access to the world’s largest music catalogue of more than 180,000 songs by 17,000 independent artists from 85 countries,” Steinkop says.